Ooma VOIP telephone adapter - free Canada wide phone calls

[ssfc72]

I learned about this voip phone calling service from one of the Amateur radio guys. All phone calls within Canada are free of cost. He gave a talk about Ooma at one of our radio club meetings and he was very happy with the call quality and the money savings.  See,  https://ca.ooma.com and https://ca.ooma.com/basic/

The Ooma VOIP telephone adapter plugs into your computer router and uses your high speed internet service to provide you with telephone service.
You can buy the adapter at a number of place, Amazon.ca, Costco, Best Buy etc.
The Adapter lists for $130.  I got lucky and was able to buy one from Amazon.ca, while it was on sale for $99. :-)

Once you buy the Ooma VOIP adapter, it only costs $4/month which comprises a <$2 911 fee, a <$2 fee for Ooma to deal with the Canadian Telephone regulations and taxes.

You get free phone calling, throughout Canada.  To phone to the USA, is 1.4 cents/minute (you need to pay for a Credit, so that the US charges can be paid for)
You have to provide a credit card, to bill the $4/month.

You choose a phone number for any area code that you want. I chose a Lindsay area number. Peterborough has numbers available.
This phone number can be kept or you can arrange to have your existing number ported to the Ooma service. The porting cost is $39, or is free, if you chose to subscribe to the Premium Ooma phone service, for 1 year, at $10/month.

I have only had my Ooma service running for a few days but so far the phone voice quality seems to be excellent.

The install of the Ooma adapter was very slick. I had no problems.
After receiving your Ooma VOIP adapter, you must first log onto the Ooma web site to create an account, provide 911 information and choose your phone number.
Once you get the ok, that your account is activated, you then hook up your VOIP adapter. You just plug a supplied ethernet cable from your VOIP adapter to your router. Plug your phone cord or phone system cord, into the VOIP adaper and then power up the adapter.

The adapter has a lighted symbol on the top that blinks different colours while it is hooking up and installing the latest software. The light will turn blue and stop blinking, when it has successfully been installed.  This process does take a bit of time, so you could go and make yourself a coffee. :-)

You are now ready to make free phone calls, Canada wide. :-)

O yes! The Service Agreement is incredibly long ( as is usual with any Internet provider Agreement), if you choose to read the whole document.  I just scanned thought it, briefly.

Bill

There is a referral incentive, were both you and the person you referred, get a $20 Amazon card. If you think you might get the Ooma Telo, you would need to give me your email address, so that an email can be sent to you, with the referal offer.

[Jason]

Do they give you any free months of calling with that $130/$99 adapter?

Because I've calculated I pay about $60 a year for Magicjack (which includes an extra charge of $10 or $15 to have a Canadian local number. But the original adapter was $50 CAD and they gave you 12 months of service. Unlike Ooma, MagicJack gives you free calls within Canada and the US for free. You pay annually though and you don't require a credit card if I remember correctly (I paid in December so hard to remember how I paid). Looks like Ooma is still a bit cheaper if you only require Canadian long distance on the yearly cost but has a very expensive adapter in comparison unless they give you something with that. I have to admit their adapter looks a lot cooler though.

To be fair though, we have rarely ever needed long distance within Canada or the US, so it's really just for local phone service for us.

Call quality is as clear as it was with Bell that charged us around $40-$45 a month with no extras like Call Display, Voicemail, etc that I presume Ooma also gives you.

I'm amazed you found a service you like so much, Bill, that you're willing to give them your credit card! ;-)

[Jason]

Oh, there is one downside to MagicJack. Even though the $50 includes 12 months of service, it doesn't include it for a local number. That is $10/year USD extra. If you're happy with an American number it's free. Not sure what the porting cost is. I didn't do that option.

[ssfc72]

Phone calls within Canada are free, forever.
The only charge to your credit card is approximately $4/month.

I use a credit card to pay for most of my purchases/services

Do they give you any free months of calling with that $130/$99 adapter?

[Jason]

Phone calls within Canada are free, forever.
The only charge to your credit card is approximately $4/month.

Are you saying that you will still have free Canadian calling if you quit paying the $4/month? If so, then yeah, Ooma is amazing. Well, even then, it's still amazing, though so is MagicJack. These super-cheap adapters and phone plans are incredible, to be honest when you think of the alternative.

If you meant that Canadian calls don't cost extra beyond the $4/month fee then that's why I mentioned MagicJack. MagicJack doesn't charge extra for Canada calls either. But MagicJack gives you 12 months with no monthly charges the first year other than the $10 USD per year to get that local number (which is annoying especially since they didn't mention *that* until you sign up). You'd think Ooma would, too.

That's why I asked if they gave any free months. That's $1.06/month (at present exchange rates) compared to $4/month, for the first year. if you add in the costs of the devices, that's $5.23/month for the first year for MagicJack and $12.33/month for Ooma.mAfter the first year, Ooma will be cheaper since MagicJack will cost $4.75/month.

MagicJack has an option to buy 5 years for $100 USD which, with the $10 USD/year local number fee amounts to $3.17 a month. But there are probably deals with Ooma if you pay in advance, too.

If you don't trust paying MagicJack enough for paying 5 years in advance and don't care or need US calling, then Ooma is gonna be clearly cheaper after the first year. So thanks for letting us know about it.

I use a credit card to pay for most of my purchases/services

Sorry, I thought I remembered a time when you were nervous about recurring billing by credit card and was just having a bit of fun with you

[ssfc72]

I forgot to mention, that the voip adapter is a Linux box!  Neat!

[Jason]

I forgot to mention, that the voip adapter is a Linux box!  Neat!

That's cool. How did you find that out?

[ssfc72]

Their web site had the info. :-)

And yes your memory is very good, i do hate to have a recurring charge, made to my credit card. In this instance, the savings i will realize, are too good to pass up. The $4 credit card montly charge is also quite minimal. :-)

[ssfc72]

For anyone interested in the Ooma Telo, there is a referal incentive.
There is a referral incentive, were both you and the person you referred, get a $20 Amazon card. If you think you might get the Ooma Telo, you would need to give me your email address, so that an email can be sent to you, with the referal offer.

[ssfc72]

I downloaded the Ooma app, from the Google Play Store, to my Android phone and it works quite well!

Now, as long as I have a wifi hotspot, that my Android cell phone can connect to, I can call any phone number in Canada, for free, using my cell phone and the Ooma app (also phone calls to the US would only be 1.4 cents/minute, charged to a Credit that you would have to set up, on your Ooma account).  Nice! :-)

One downside is that you apparently have to choose, on the app, between sending outgoing calls or incoming calls (I chose outgoing calls), for the basic Ooma account/service.
If you pay the yearly $100 fee for the premium Ooma service, than the Ooma app can be set for both incoming and outgoing calls.